The Castafiore Emerald (French: Les Bijoux de la Castafiore) is the twenty-first volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. It was serialised weekly from July 1961 to September 1962 in Tintin magazine. The book was considered as an antithesis of the previous Tintin books as Hergé delibrately broke the adventure genre he had created, making it the only book in the Tintin series where the characters remain at Marlinspike Hall and do not venture to another part of the world. The story tells of opera singer Bianca Castafiore's holiday visit to Marlinspike Hall, and the subsequent theft of her Emerald, which was gifted to her by the Maharajah of the fictional province of Gopal.

Although The Castafiore Emerald received critical acclaim for making its characters follow a lead of false trails, it never achieved the public recognition it merited due to the experimental nature of its narrative. It was published as a book by Casterman shortly after its conclusion. Hergé continued The Adventures of Tintin with Flight 714, while the series itself became a defining part of the Franco-Belgian comics tradition. The story was adapted for the 1991 animated series The Adventures of Tintin by Ellipse and Nelvana.

Contents

Tintin and Captain Haddock are walking through the countryside when they come across a Romani community camped in a garbage dump. They find a girl named Miarka, who belongs to the community and bring her back to them. The duo then learn that the community were forced to stay at the site by the police, who forbade them to use any other location. Haddock then invites them to camp on the grounds of his estate, Marlinspike Hall.[1]

Shortly afterwards, Bianca Castafiore, the famous opera diva and scourge of Haddock, decides to invite herself to Marlinspike Hall for a vacation. For some time, one of the marble steps leading to the foyer in Marlinspike Hall has had a plate-sized chip; Haddock has been waiting for the stonemason, Mr. Arthur Bolt who has been avoiding him, to fix it. On hearing of Bianca's impending visit, Haddock rushes to pack for a trip to Milan. In his haste, Haddock misses the yet unrepaired step and sprains his ankle. The doctor arrives, examines Haddock, and insists upon putting his foot and ankle in a cast while imposing a minimum of a fortnight's bed rest. Castafiore then arrives with her maid, Irma, and pianist, Igor Wagner and her Jewels. Castafiore presents a parrot for Hadock called "Iago" to keep as a pet.[2]

Compounding Haddock's problems, two over-zealous reporters from the magazine, Paris Flash, concoct a story claiming that Haddock and Castafiore intend to get married, following a misinterpreted conversation with Professor Calculus. This results in an avalanche of congratulations from Haddock's friends. Soon after, Haddock discovers to his horror, the rumours of his engagement spread by the tabloids. He is forced to accommodate an entire television crew, who occupy Marlinspike Hall for conducting an interview with Castafiore, during which a mysterious photographer, Gino, appears with the crew. Suddenly, Irma informs Castafiore that her Jewels are stolen, Tintin suspects Gino, who runs away when there is a temporary power cut, to be the thief. Castafiore, however, finds the case containing her Jewels, stating that she had forgotten she brought them from her room. The next day, an angry Castafiore shows Tintin and Haddock a copy of the magazine, Tempo Di Roma, with the front cover showing a picture of Castafiore taken at Marlinspike Hall without her permission. Tintin discovers that Gino was a reporter working for the magazine and not a thief.[3]

A few days later, Castafiore's Emerald, given to her by the Maharajah of the fictional province of Gopal, goes missing. After initially questioning Irma and Nestor, the detectives Thomson and Thompson suspect the Romani community to be responsible for the theft after interrogating Calculus, who inavertedly speaks about them. Their suspicions are justified when they find a pair of golden scissors, found by Miarka, belonging to Irma. But soon the time comes for Castafiore to leave for Milan to perform an opera. When Tintin finds out from Castafiore that the name of the opera is called La gazza ladra (Italian: The Theiving Magpie), he realises that the true culprit responsible for the theft of the Emerald and the scissors is a Magpie, explaining later to Haddock that the scissors must have fallen out of the nest, leading to Miarka finding it. Tintin's explanation leads to the Romani community being vindicated. Tintin then retrieves the Emerald and hands it to Thomson and Thompson, who then return it to Castafiore. Mr. Bolt mends the broken step soon after, only to be damaged again by Haddock.[4]

"When I began this book, my aim was to tell a story where nothing happened. Without resorting to anything exotic (except the gipsies [sic]). I wanted simply to see if I could keep the reader in suspense until the end."

Following the culmination of the previous story, Tintin in Tibet, Hergé began planning his next adventure, seeking advice from the cartoonist Greg. Greg produced two plot outlines, Les Pilulues ("The Pills") and Tintin et le Thermozéro ("Tintin and the Thermozero"). Hergé began drawing the latter of these stories, but soon abandoned it.[6] Instead, he decided to set his new Adventure entirely at Marlinspike Hall, the only installment in the series to do this.[7] This was the first and last adventure after The Secret of the Unicorn (1943) to be set entirely in Belgium,[8] and he admitted that with his proposed scenario, it was difficult "to create suspense, a semblance of danger."[9] The titles that Hergé had previously considered for the book were: The Castafiore Affair, Castafiore's Sapphire, The Castafiore Jewels and The Captain and the Nightingale, but The Castafiore Emerald eventually emerged as the favourite.[10]

Hergé's depiction of Bianca Casfafiore in the story – a famous opera singer, pursued by press, and changing her outfit for every occasion – was influenced by the life of the opera singer Maria Callas.[11] One of the new characters that Hergé introduced into the story was the stonemason Arthur Bolt (M. Boullu in the original French version), whose characterisation was based on a real individual who worked for Hergé.[12] Hergé's depiction of the paparazzi within the story may have been influenced by his own repeat encounters with the press throughout his career.[11] The reporter and the photographer, Christopher Willoughby-Droupe and Marco Rizotto (Jean-Loup de la Battelerie and Walter Rizotto respectively in the original French version) of the Paris Flash, are introduced into the series here, and would later be retroactively added into a re-drawing of The Black Island by Bob de Moor, also making a reappearance in Tintin and the Picaros.[13][a]

In page 17 of the book, Jolyon Wagg mentions Castafiore's Emerald to be a gift from, in his own words, "some character, Marjorie something or other...", to which Castafiore corrects Wagg by saying it was from the Maharajah of Gopal.[16] The Maharajah of Gopal does not make an appearance in The Adventures of Tintin, but is one of the titular characters in another adventure, The Valley of the Cobras (1956), which is a part of another Franco-Belgian comics series created by Hergé, The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko.[17] Hergé also introduced the Romani people, members of whose community had previously appeared in Destination New York (1951), another book from The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko.[18]

The Castafiore Emerald was also one of the few instances of romance seen in The Adventures of Tintin, which begins when Calculus breeds a new variety of white-coloured roses, and names it "Bianca" in honour of Castafiore. At her departure, Calculus presents a bouquet of the roses he created to Castafiore, who happily receives them and embraces Calculus, kissing him in the process. Unlike Haddock, Calculus willingly accepts it and blushes.[19] Calculus also makes an imperfect attempt at colour television, which, according to Tintinologist Michael Farr, was "some five years ahead of its day."[19]

Castafiore's mention of Calculus' "ascents in balloons" is a reference to Auguste Piccard, based on whom Calculus was modelled.[19]

The incident of the unwelcome band playing outside Marlinspike Hall, called the "Marlinspike Prize Band" (Harmoniw de Moulinsart in the original French version), was based on a similar experience of Hergé's who was also obliged to serve them with drinks. To add insult to injury, they gave a toast to "Spirou", the cartoon character created by Robert Velter.[20] Another influence for the band was a cutting of the "L'Orpheon France" band.[11] Whenever Castafiore fears her jewels her stolen, her expressions, which involve placing her hands on her face, were influenced by a photograph of her model in real life, Maria Callas, taken by Cecil Beaton in 1957.[21] In page 43 of the book, Tintin is shown reading Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883), which was also one of Hergé's favourite books.[22] The depiction of the Romani wagons and clothing was closely modeled on photographs of Romani communities that Hergé had consulted, and he depicted members of the group engaged in basket weaving and fortune telling after reading that the Romani engaged in such activities in the Oxford English Dictionary.[22]

The book alludes to the well-known French weekly Paris Match in its depiction of the reporters from the magazine, Paris Flash, and jibes at its reputation for the questionable accuracy of the articles.[13] Hergé's use of the word Paris Flash is also based on a previous encounter of his with the Paris Match when it featured an "error-ridden" article on him.[23] It also mentions a fashion designing company named Tristan Bior, based upon the French luxury goods company, Christian Dior.[11] Andy (André in the original French version), the director of the television crew belonging to the fictional company, Supavision, was compared by Farr to an employee of Belgian Television, Jacques Cogniaux.[22] In a tribute to Auguste Piccard, Calculus' model in real life, Castafiore greets him as a famous balloonist.[24] Hergé also inserted references to previous stories in the narrative; he included the three models of the Unicorn, originally featured in The Secret of the Unicorn, in a background scene at Marlinspike Hall.[25]

The Castafiore Emerald was serialised weekly from 4 July 1961 to 4 September 1962 in Tintin magazine and published in book form as Les Bijoux De La Castafiore by Casterman in 1963.[26] For the English version of the book, the gramophone record that Tintin receives from Castafiore, which is the "Jewel Song" from Charles Gounod's Faust, is titled "Margarethe", the name by which Gounod's opera is known in Germany but not in England.[22]

The Castafiore Emerald was the first book in The Adventures of Tintin that was published in England the same year — 1963 — it was published in Belgium and France.[22] When Hergé read the English version of the book,[b] he found it to be "absolutely delirious" and even suggested to the book's translator, "You really would think that this was originally written in English."[27] In the original French version, Calculus explains about his invention and ignores Haddock's attempt to refer to the latest developments in the United States. This is not seen in the English edition.[19]

Michael Farr stated that in The Castafiore Emerald, Hergé permits Haddock to remain at home in Marlinspike, an ideal that the "increasingly travel weary" character had long cherished.[28] He compared the story to a detective novel by Agatha Christie, in that the narrative was "littered from start to finish with clues, most of which are false", misleading both Tintin and the reader.[28] He felt that in setting the story entirely at Marlinspike, Hergé "deliberately broke the classic adventure mould he had created", and in doing so "succeeded in creating a masterpiece in the manner of a well constructed stage comedy or farce". Farr viewed the volume as "a tour de force", noting that it was quite dissimilar to any other installment in The Adventures of Tintin. As such, he felt that it would have been a suitable story on which to end the series.[28] As a result of its "experimental, exceptional nature", Farr believed that The Castafiore Emerald "never gained the public recognition it merits", stating that while attracting "a loyal following" it had not become one of the most popular Adventures of Tintin, something that he thought was "unjust".[19]

Jean-Marc Lofficier and Randy Lofficier described Hergé's depiction of Castafiore in the story as "a force of nature", praising the way that he depicted her many outfit changes.[29] They described Mr Bolt as being both a "Godot-like character" and as being akin to a character from the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, while adding that the broken step acts "like a Greek God's curse" in the story that affects everyone except Castafiore.[30] They interpreted The Castafiore Emerald as Hergé's Nouveau Roman, in which he realises that he cannot improve upon the standard set in Tintin in Tibet and thus decides to "deconstruct his own myth and create the antithesis of a Tintin adventure."[31] Given that accidents and bad luck befall most of the characters in the story, Lofficier and Lofficier described the story as "a comedy of errors, a wonderful tribute to Murphy's Law."[32] Ultimately, they awarded the story four stars out of five.[23]

Hergé biographer Benoît Peeters(pictured, 2010) described The Castafiore Emerald as "the most surprising of Tintin's adventures".[9]

Harry Thompson stated that in The Castafiore Emerald, "everything is topsy-turvy", with obvious villains being shown to be harmless, and alleged crimes turning out to have not happened.[25] He thought that Haddock was a clear parallel for Hergé himself in the story, representing his own desires and frustrations.[33] Ultimately, he considered the volume to be "Hergé's masterpiece" when it came to technical issues, representing "the high tide of his creative abilities".[34]

Hergé biographer Benoît Peeters described the story as "the most surprising of Tintin's adventures", with Hergé having been "determined to push his reexamination of the comic strip even further."[9] He noted that in the story, Castafiore's "dramatic femininity" disrupted the "idea of sociability" that pervaded Marlinspike, with its "proper respect of space, a form of harmony in independence".[9] He added that "this casually alluring tale is one of the most subtly handled of the adventures; a riot of clues, both real and false, give The Castafiore Emerald an unequaled density",[35] elsewhere referring to it as "a catalogue of mishaps with nothing or no one spared".[36] He described it as having brought to the foreground the "anarchist and non-conformist tendencies of Hergé's work" which had previously been shown in Quick & Flupke.[36] He also saw the book as being "a sort of flashback" for Hergé, allowing him to relive events from his own past; thus, Peeters thought that the constant renovations at Marlinspike represented the constant renovations at Hergé's country home of Céroux-Mousty, while Haddock's time in the wheelchair represented his former wife's Germaine time spent similarly disabled, and Castafiore was a parody of Germaine herself.[37] Ultimately, he felt that the story – "the last great adventure of Tintin" – was "also a swan song", for Hergé "did not dare to continue down this path, where not all of his readers had followed him", and which had represented "a permanent loss of innocence."[38]

In June 1970, a long article on The Castafiore Emerald by French philosopher and author, Michel Serres, appeared in the literary review, Critique, under the title, Les Bijoux distraits ou la cantarice sauve.[39]

In 1991, a collaboration between the French studio Ellipse and the Canadian animation company Nelvana adapted 21 of the stories into a series of episodes, each 42 minutes long. The Castafiore Emerald was the nineteenth episode of The Adventures of Tintin to be produced, although it ran half as long as most of the others. Directed by Stéphane Bernasconi, the series has been praised for being "generally faithful", with compositions having been actually directly taken from the panels in the original comic book.[40]